They did it! They did it! (July 08, 2005)

Being complicated paid off in a big way at the Alameda County Fair Sunday July 3 when, at 1:54 p.m., members of the Pleasanton Middle School Robotics club and nine other teams linked their Rube Goldberg machines together and broke the world record for using the most steps to complete a simple task.

"We're thrilled to be part of such a monumental event," said Fair spokesperson April Mitchell, "This was our first attempt at a world record and we feel absolutely wonderful that we were able to complete it."

The super-machine took 156 steps to raise a miniature LEGO flag, beating the previous record-breaking machine's 113. A tape has been sent to the Guinness offices in London. Mitchell said,." The amount of community support with the contest was wonderful." -Rebecca Guyon

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